Saudis are one of world’s largest consumers of chicken, eating 47kg of chicken meat and an estimated 120 eggs a year per person on an average.

An investor in fish aquaculture said Saudis eat less than 9kg of fish a year, way below the global average of 25kg per person and lower than the Gulf average of 28kg.

Chief Executive of the National Group for Aquaculture Ahmed Balla said that eating habit of Saudis was one of the major challenges facing aquaculture projects in Saudi Arabia.

In a working paper put forward in the first session of workshops on Agricultural Development in the Makkah region, which was held in Jeddah on Saturday, Balla said: “Saudis largely eat poultry and red meat. They tend to avoid fish and marine and farm products.”

Citizens in Arab Gulf states consume 28kg of fishery products every year, with the UAE and Oman being particularly high in terms of consumption.

Technical adviser to Fakih Poultry Mohammed Al-Ghamdi said that Saudi Arabia is among the top poultry consuming countries in the world.

Infographic: Chick magnet?

“The volume of investments in this area is up to SR42 billion (more than 11 billion USD). Some 700,000 tons of poultry was domestically produced in 2015, covering 45 percent of the domestic consumption,” Al-Ghamdi said.

Balla said that the challenges facing aquaculture projects include the lack of awareness among the public and the lack of trained national labor qualified to work in the industry.

This article was first published by the Saudi Gazette on March 14, 2016.